Railway-vehicle coupling.



G. JOHNSTON.

RAILWAY VEHICLE COUPLING. APPLIOATION FILED APR. 6

Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

COLUMBIA PLANOURAPN c0., WASHINGTON. u/ c.

GEORGE JOHNSTON, OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.

RAILWAY-VEHICLE COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 6, 1907.

Patented Apr. 15, 1913. Serial No. 366,779. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE JOHNSTON, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, in theKingdom of England, engineer, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Railway-Vehicle Couplings, for which application hasbeen made in Great Britain, No. 9,970, dated April 28, 1906.

This invention relates to central buffers and couplings for railway andlike rolling stock, which will automatically couple up when brought intocontact.

The present invention provides a central buffer and coupling, that willcouple up with the buffer faces in touching contact, so as to avoid thedefect of loose couplings, and yet enable a train of tightly coupledvehicles to go around curves, or enable vehicles to be coupled on acurve.

In the accompanying drawingsFigure l isa side elevation partly insection; Fig. 2 a plan view with one of the buffers in section; Fig. 3 aface view of one of the buffers.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, my central buffer is made with a bodypart V provided with a flat face B which is wider than the said body V.In this face B is a bellmouthed rectangular hole A right through it atone side of the center line, in such a position as to be clear of thebody part V. Equidistant on the other side of the center line, thebuffer face B carries a draw hook G which is a fixture on the front faceand projects therefrom. The drawhook G consists of a flat tongue ofmetal with tapered nose 0 and the top edge of this tongue has a verticalnotch c which extends about half way down the tongue. The bufiers ateach end of the vehicle are made in pairs, so that when two vehiclescome together the flat hooks C of each bufler will enter the rec--tangular bell mouthed hole A in the other, and be guided into the exactposition required at opposite sides of the buffer bodies V. By thisconstruction therefore the hooks when they enter the holes are clear ofthe body portion V, that is the body is in the centerline of the bufferwith the hooks clear of it on the outside. This enables the pivots O tobe located nearer the buffer face B than is the case, in theconstruction shown and described in my Patent No. 87 5,434, datedDecember 81, 1907, because the nose of the hooks can if desired extendots O.

Mounted on the rear surface of each buffer face B immediately behind thehole A and 111 the path of the hook C where it enters the past thepivbell mouth and guided by guides at is a vertical coupling bolt D.This bolt is of flattened shape, of less width than the notch c, and theguides a have parallel sides extending down to the bottom edge of thebufler face. The bolt is formed with a rectangular orifice (Z to receivethe draw hook G and with a chamfered edge E at the top on its frontface. The said bolt being of such a width that the top of its aperturecan drop into the notch c in the draw hook to en gage the same, andforma tight interlocking connection therewith, without play or slackness.

4 is a pin sliding in guides at rear of the buffer face. The top end ofthis pin abuts against the head J of the coupling bolt D.

5 is a handle on the bolt 4. If this handle be lifted it will lift thepin 4 and then by turning the handle so as to rest on the abutment 6, itholds the coupling bolt in the raised position. If the handle 5 be givena part of a turn it will drop down into the slot 7 and thus lower thecoupling bolt also.

On two vehicles coming together, the draw hooks C enter the bell mouthsA and the orifices in the bolt D, and their noses coming against thechamfered edges E aforesaid, lift the bolts D, and then immediately thehooks C have passed through the orifices, the bolts D fall into thenotches 0' (provided the handle 5 is not locked to hold them raised)thus engaging the notches and fastening the buffers together. The mo-"ment however the bolts D are raised by either one of the handles clearof the notches c the two buffers can be separated. The

vertical bolts D project above the buffer face B and are provided with ahead J each carrylnga pro ect1ng stud I, whlch when two vehicles cometogether enter corresponding holes K in the bolt heads of the adjacentbuffer.

These lock the two bolts so that to uncouple the vehicleit is onlynecessary to lift one of the bolts D and the other will be lifted also.

In shunting operations where it is required that the buffers do notautomatically couple up when two vehicles come together, the bolts D inthe buffers are prevented from falling down to engage the coupling hookby being held raised by means of the handle 5. Consequently when twovehicles come together, the hook C' of one buffer L will enter the bellmouth A, and pass into the adjacent buffer, but will not be engaged bythe bolt D because the latter is-held raised by the handle 5. Thecoupling hook C of the other buffer M will also enter its adjacent bellmouth A, and raise the coupling bolt D, and the studs I, which projectfrom the face on each bolt head J, will enter the corresponding holes Kin their adjacent bolt heads, so that this other bolt D cannot fall toengage the coupling hook C because it is held up by the studs I engagingin the holes. Consequently no coupling of the vehicles takes place, andthe two vehicles can be separated. The coupling bolt D of the buffer Lcan fall when the two vehicles are separated but it cannot fall so longas the hooks are in the bell months, until the handle 5 on the adjacentbuifer M is released.

The buffer is pivoted to the buffing and draw-bar N at C, so that theformer is not rigidly united to the latter but is free to move through ahorizontal arc upon the pivot pin O as a center, to facilitate thebuffers of adjacent carriages remaining in line when the carriages areon a curve. 8 is a guide fixed in the headstock 3; 9 a plunger mountedin said guide. A jaw 10 at the rear of the buffer body V receives theend of the draw-bar N, and through these the pivot pin O is passed, andthe jaw 10 abuts against the flat face 11 of the plunger 9. The hole 12for the pivot pin O is somewhat elongated as shown. S is a spring whichexerts pressure against the plunger 9 and tends to keep the buffer inline with the draw-bar N, but the said spring allows a radial movementof the buffer in a horizontal arc to adapt the parts to the curvature ofthe rails. Further when two vehicles come together on a curve the impactof the two buffer faces coming to gether, will turn the buffers to oneside or the other, so that the draw-hooks will enter the bell mouths atright angles to the buffer face. Then the vehicle gets in a straightline the buffer will by the force of the spring S resume its position inline with the draw-bars N. Furthermore if two vehicles on comingtogether are unequally loaded so that one buffer is lower than the otherthe nose of the hooks C cannot pass direct into the bell mouths A,because the bell mouths and hooks are out of line. Consequently the noseof the hook C which is on the lower level, striking against the bottomedge of the adjacent bell mouth A, will cause the buffer face to turnthrough a vertical. arc, the slackness of the pin O in the hole 12, andthe shaping of the draw-bar end N permitting of this. Thus the hook Cimpinging against the adjacent bell mouth A, will bring the hook andbell mouth of one buffer, into alinement with the hook and bell mouth ofthe other buffer, although the body of one of the buffers and itsdrawbar, may be considerably below the other. Instead of using the pinsI and holes K 011 the head of the coupling bolt I can substitutetherefor a finger 20 projecting at right angles from the bottom of thepin 4. The action will be the same, namely that if the handle 5 beraised the upper end of the pin 4 will lift one of the coupling bolts,while the projecting finger at the lower end, will. lift the othercoupling bolt.

X are the butling springs mounted on the draw bar N. hen the impactbetween the two buffers occurs, springs S in both buffers are firstpartly compressed without moving draw bar N until the head of each drawbar bottoms the slot in the head V. Thereafter springs X take up theimpact and are com-- pressed thereby.

I declare that what I claim is A central buffer consisting of a bufferbody having a face formed by two opposite lateral extensions, oneextension having a bell mouth hole through it, the other extensionhaving a draw hook on its face equidistant with the said hole from thecentral line of the body to permit the hole and the hook to operativelyengage respectively with a hook and a hole of a like buffer, the hook ofone buffer entering entirely through the hole of the other buifer,whereby the hooks of said buffers lie laterally clear of the bodies ofthe buffers, and a slide mounted in suitable guides at the rear of eachbuffer extension adjacent to its hole and adapted to engage the hook ofthe other bufier after it has passed through said hole to tightly locksaid buffers together.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name this 26th day ofMarch 1907, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. JOHNSTON.

\Vitnesses G. C. DYMOND, JOHN MoLAorrLAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G.

